West Brom duo dealt injury blows on eve of the new season
Albion pair Daryl Dike and Tammer Bany will miss the start of the new Championship season through injury.
Attacking duo Dike and Bany have sustained muscles injuries during pre-season and the club have confirmed both will be sidelined until after the September international break.
For striker Dike it is yet more fitness frustration. The United States international was hoping to complete a first fit pre-season in his three years at the club.
The 25-year-old has ruptured both of his Achilles tendons while as an Albion player and missed long periods through serious muscle injuries. His time out injured has spanned more than two years.
There was no confirmation at what stage of pre-season Dike picked up the thigh problem. The powerful frontman had led the line for boss Ryan Mason's side during friendlies in the early stage of summer. He last featured against Blackpool but missed the following weekend against Lincoln.
Mason told the Express & Star after the defeat at Lincoln last Saturday that the club had erred on the side of caution after Dike felt a tightness in the muscle.
Attacking midfielder Bany, a signing from January, limped out of the end of the draw against Dynamo Kyiv in Austria last month with a hamstring issue.
It will leave head coach Mason shorter on attacking options with Albion's Championship curtain-raiser just a week away.
The Baggies host Blackburn, managed by former boss Valerien Ismael, on the opening day of the campaign on Saturday week (August 9).
With Dike sidelined, Mason has senior options in new recruit Aune Heggebo, last season's top scorer Josh Maja - himself returning from a long-term injury - and Devante Cole to call upon.
Bany is an attacking midfielder but the start to his first full Albion season has now been disrupted. Baggies star Isaac Price has been the regular playing in Mason's attacking midfield role so far this term.
There are four Championship fixtures and at least one EFL Cup tie - with the possibility of another if Albion progress - before the September international break. Albion's first game following that is at home to Derby in The Hawthorns' 125th anniversary game on September 13.